Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Casey Anthony Trial Wed. June 22

Today, the defense actually appeared to be capable!! It was surprising. It seems that the defense has now decided to focus on "what's not there". A total of 6 witnesses testified today.
Maureen Bottrell, FBI Geologist testified that of the more than 20 shoes tested that belonged to Casey Anthony, none of them had soil that matched that of where the remains were found. On cross, MB did agree with Ashton that the lack of soil was meaningless & did not prove that the shoes had never been there. MB did say that testing was begun on the shovel but was stopped when the remains were found. Baez did ask MB what other "meaningless" tests the FBI does.... that didn't go over well

Madeline Montgomery, FBI forensic toxicologist testified as to hair that was tested for 11 different drugs. The hair was from a "hair mat" found with Cayle's skull. (I hate hearing them say "hair mat")The primary focus had been for Xanax & Klonopin, but the FBI method also tested for 9 more. The results were negative for all 11 drugs. On cross MM stated that hair was not the best type of sample to examine for drug exposure & the negative result did not mean that the drug was not taken. Ashton asked if drugs taken within moments or even a couple of hours of death would show in a hair sample, MM said no. MM also testified that her lab did not test for chloroform.

Dr. Sigman, from the University of Central Florida, testified that he could not conclusively determine that human remains had been in the trunk of Casey's car. Ashton asked Sigman if there was an odor coming from the trunk of the car. Sigman agreed that yes there was an odor. Mind you Sigman was near the car after the trunk liner & spare tire had been removed.

Dr. Michael Rickenback, FBI chemist testified about samples he took from Caylee's car seat, the steering wheel cover and a doll. The car seat & steering wheel cover samples were negative for chloroform, while the doll showed very low levels that were inconclusive. Dr. R, made sure to point out that he tested only "samples" & that did not mean that chloroform could not have been somewhere else on the seat or wheel cover. I love it when a "defense" witness shoots them in the foot.
Next was when Baez made a mistake. Baez asked Dr. R to testify regarding a Gatorade bottle & a Disney bag that were found near the remains, these items had NOT been entered into evidence. So Baez looks like a dummy again for not knowing/following procedure. Dr. R testified that the Gatorade bottle had a small amount of murky white liquid inside that could have came from a cleaning product & a mixture of testosterone compounds. Dr. R also said there was a syringe inside the bottle that also contained an oily yellow substance. This substance was found to have low levels of testosterone & low levels of chloroform. I am still trying to figure out what the defense was trying to do with this testimony. The prosecution didn't bring it up... If I were a juror I would think that Casey first tried to get Caylee to drink whatever she had put in the Gatorade bottle & had the syringe for back up. Several witnesses have already testified that common household chemicals usually contain chloroform. In my opinion the defense only hurt their case with this witness & evidence.
Last was Karen Korsberg Lowe, FBI lab tech. KKL testified that she tested numerous hairs collected from various places including Casey's closet & items from the trash bag in the trunk, for decomposition. Out of hundreds of hairs tested only one showed signs of decomp. There was also one hair collected that could not be matched to any of the samples that KKL had. Ashton pointed out on cross that Casey had not been staying with her parents between June 16-July 15, suggesting that clothes from Casey's closet might not be relevant. Baez asked KKL if any items were tested from the apartment where Casey had been staying. KKL said if she had been given any testing would have been done.

JP instructed the defense to to have an estimate for how much more time would be needed to present their case, by Friday. We already know that prosecution will be calling rebuttal witnesses. Court ended at half day today due to a meeting JP had to attend. Court will resume tomorrow at 9.

I get some of what the defense is trying to get the jury to see. Nothing they have presented gives me true pause or any reasonable doubt. The defense keeps bringing up the absence of or small amounts of chloroform, it seems to me all this is doing is reminding the jury that Casey did 84 searches for the word chloroform & that however small it has been found on key pieces of evidence. The big question is will Casey testify... I think Casey wants to testify. She wants to be center stage, all the attention on her. The question really is, will Baez & Mason convince her that would be a BIG mistake...

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